UIC earned a hard-fought three points via a 3-2 win over Wright State at Flames Field Wednesday night.  Younes Dayekh had a first-half brace, and Josiah Ash scored his first of the year to make it 3-0 before Wright State got back into it with goals in the 60^th and 86^th minutes.

Sean Phillips' Summary
"Games between our two teams generally have a large number of goals.  They generally are played right until the end and tonight was no different.  Credit to Wright State, after they went down 3-0, they kept chipping away.  They scored on a penalty and made it 3-1, and they kept chipping away.  They knocked us off what we were trying to do.  Right there at the end we clicked off for a moment, and you can't click off for any moments when you're facing a team with as many weapons as Wright State.  They made it closer than what you thought it should be after a positive and dominant performance from us in the first half."

Turning Points

• The Flames took a two-goal lead into the halftime break thanks to an early penalty kick, and an 18^th minute goal by Younes Dayekh.
• Josiah Ash made a nice move close to the goal, after being set up by Alwin Seitz, to push UIC's lead to 3-0.
• Following a PK of their own, Wright State made things tight for the last five minutes when Reece Allbaugh gathered a deflection and scored past Andres Vasquez.

Match Details
In a match typical of the UIC-Wright State rivalry, the issue was decided by a single goal – marking the 11^th time in the last 14 meetings that the margin was that slim.  The Flames' win made them the first team to win four straight against the other in the series.

UIC was aggressive from the opening kick and was rewarded almost instantly when a penalty was whistled at 2:54.  Younes Dayekh netted his third PK of the season, and added his seventh overall goal less than 15 minutes later.  An initial push led to a Raider deflection in the box.  Dayekh was in the right spot to punch it in and make it 2-0.

The physical match saw a penalty kick on each side, nine bookings, and 28 fouls.  Harvey Slade had a conversation with the officials as soon as the first half ended, and in the course of his disagreement was shown two yellow cards.  A Raider coach was then given a red card for joining the argument.  "We challenged our guys to continue to apply pressure, and we got a third goal" less than 10 minutes into the second half, Phillips said.

Alwin Seitz got creative in space along the deep left flank before getting himself open to make a pass into the six-yard area to Josiah Ash.  Ash quickly sized up the keeper, and then flicked a shot into the net.  "Alwin's coming off an injury; he missed the last couple of weeks after being a bright spot for us early in the season," Phillips noted.  "Josiah was making a big impact in his first two seasons before his knee injury.  It's been a long road back for him, and a very hard one, but it was only a matter of time before he got back on the scoresheet.  He did that tonight and it ended up being the game winner."

Wright State pulled a goal back within six minutes.  As players from both sides jumped to try to get a head on the ball, a Flame was called for excessive contact, sending Wright State to the spot.  After they converted, Andres Vasquez inserted himself into the game more.  He came way off his line on a couple of occasions to make plays that prevented a Raider attack, yet did not show up on the stat sheet alongside his five saves.

The Raiders drew to within one late in the match.  Reece Allbaugh took a shot that got deflected right back to him, and he made good on his second chance.  "An element of our game we have to improve upon is dealing with the stop and the start," Phillips said.  "A lot of what we do is based on rhythm.  We got it in the first half, then when your opponent is down a man they're going to make things more difficult, and they did.  That's what we have to add to our game."

The Flames will host Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday night for the annual Alumni Game.